Houston County basketball takes down Lowndes in Day 1 of Bear Brawl; Lady Bears struggle against Vikettes’ defensive prowess

WARNER ROBINS — An early foul out from Lowndes’ Kam Jackson helped the Houston County Bears (8-3) on their way to a 58-45 final over the Vikings (4-4) in Day 1 of the Bear Brawl.

Three observations from the matchup:

Malik Gillespie displays control early

The only time Lowndes held a lead on Friday was in the first 2:30 of the first quarter; Around that time the Bears called a play for Malik Gillespie that saw Kam Plummer throw a lob from the right wing as Gillespie cut baseline, rose up and finished with at two-handed slam to take a 6-5 lead.

From there, HoCo never trailed.

Gillespie had 10 of the Bears’ 19 first-quarter points on his 16-point night, and his control of the game is what allowed HoCo to establish themselves and never relinquish their lead.

“We’ve been preaching [control] all week because we’ve been getting sloppy in games…We control the pace, so the message I guess went through this week and he did a good job of controlling, not getting rattled. He’s moving at our pace not their pace,” HoCo coach Buddy Bivins said.

Early foul out

HoCo’s efforts attacking the rim were helped when Lowndes senior Kam Jackson fouled out with five minutes left in the second quarter.

The Vikings were using Jackson mostly as a help defender, tasked with “guarding” a man in the corner.

Should the ball swing his way he assumed his man coverage, and was occasionally asked to guard Gillespie one-on-one, but he was often asked to contest the Bears’ shots at the basket, which he did.

His most notable was a blocked dunk attempt by Kam Plummer, though it drew one of his five fouls as he got a technical for a stare down.

Lowndes had plenty of other size, but getting Jackson out of the way certainly helped HoCo’s efforts attacking the rim.

“[Lowndes is] long and athletic even with him off the floor, there was still trouble getting to the basket,” Bivins said. “They timed their blocks well. But [you] can’t get down [when] somebody blocking your shot. You gotta keep attacking because it’ll eventually get you to the free throw line.”

Braylin Mills ramping up

HoCo’s 6-foot-7, 305 pound sophomore Braylin Mills has had some dominant moments when he’s able to be out on the floor.

He had a put back dunk on Friday that got the crowd going, and also displayed some nice touch around the rim for his eight-point night.

Lowndes had to triple team him at times to get a rebound away from him, and there’s no one he’s faced yet that has a true answer for his size.

He’s not on the floor as often as the Bears would like, but when he gets in basketball shape, Bivins hopes he’ll be a big contributor come region play.

“His biggest thing is confidence,” Bivins said of Mills. “Once his confidence is there, we know him. He’s got a nice touch around the rim, he has good hands. He is working into basketball shape. He ain’t quite there yet, not a heavy minutes guy, but once we get rolling around region time…hopefully he can mount that middle and give us that missing piece of size that we need.”

Vikettes 73, Lady Bears 19

The Houston County Lady Bears (3-8) ran into another phenomenal defensive team in the Lowndes Vikettes (7-1) on Friday as they fell 73-19 on Day 1 of the Bear Brawl.

Here are three observations:

Another defensive buzz saw

HoCo has run into a couple of teams who are dominant on the defensive end, and the Vikettes led by Kaci Demps are no exception.

Demps is a decorated senior for Lowndes who takes pride on the defensive end, as evidenced by her career 3.3 steals per game.

She’s (obviously) phenomenal in the passing lanes as well as guarding players one-on-one, but she was not the only Vikette who gave the Lady Bears trouble.

Lowndes as a whole was aggressive swiping at the ball and getting out in transition, and they were able to block shots at the rim without fouling should HoCo manage to get it to the paint.

The Vikettes have allowed less than 20 points now three times, and only has one loss, and that was by two points.

“That’s one thing we talk about, too, is being able to handle pressure,” HoCo coach Dani Wright said. “It’s not even just with basketball, you’re gonna handle pressure in life, and how do you overcome pressure?…You can crumble or you can keep fighting and keep going. That was one thing I wish we did [more] I thought in the second quarter we did, we overcame it a little more. But we kind of went back in our slump in the second half. It’s a valuable lesson for life, not just basketball, and that’s why I love sports so much is it teaches us so much in different aspects of life.”

More games, more learning opportunities

There’s some things that only experience can teach, and the Lady Bears have plenty of that this season with 11 games under their belt.

That’s more than any other girls program in the county, and December isn’t even over yet.

“That’s one thing that we said at the beginning, it’s been nice that we were just getting to play. These girls need to just keep getting reps and keep going and keep going,” Wright said.

Injury bug

One of the caveats of playing a lot of games is that it adds to the wear and tear on players’ bodies, and can lead to more injuries.

There is always an injury risk when you step out on the court, and playing more games, like HoCo, has given them a couple of injuries.

“I think it’s been a blessing for us,” Wright said of playing so many games. “In the same breath we have a lot of injuries, too. So it’s kind of hurt us a little bit in the same breath…even this week it’s been go, go, go, another three-game week…just fun chaos.”

UP NEXT

HoCo will face Southwest-Macon on Day 2 of the Bear Brawl on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The boys will play in the Battle Off Exit 19 tournament at Lowndes High School against Florida State University High School on Friday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. They will face Bishop Snider the next day at 4 p.m.

The girls’ next game won’t be until Friday, Dec. 27 against West Laurens at home at 1 p.m.